Bottom Line Up Front Corporate Wellness Programs

Keeping the bottom line up front Bottom Line Up Front in Worksite Wellness Program will help you get and sustain Upper Management support.

The bottom line in Corporate Wellness Programs answer two key questions:
• How will member health be enhanced?
• What’s in it for Upper Management?

The ultimate bottom line: all roads should lead to readiness.
• Always be ready to communicate to leadership the ways that your Worksite Wellness Program impacts readiness.
• Think like Upper Management: what Worksite Wellness Program outcomes will be important from a Upper Management point of view?
• Develop line-centered language that communicates those outcomes.
• Ask members how they think a particular Worksite Wellness Program enhances force readiness. This input is a valuable source of information.

Use the following steps as a Bottom Line Up Front approach to Corporate Wellness Programs.

Step 1: Think about the end of the Worksite Wellness Program first and plan backwards.
• It has been said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.”
• Before planning or starting any part of the Corporate Wellness Program, be able to answer the questions: how will member health be enhanced? What’s in it for Upper Management?

Step 2: Establish concrete Worksite Wellness Program outcomes.
• Establish up front what the Worksite Wellness Program is working towards.
o For example: will members lose weight? Walk more steps? Decrease injuries? Move to another stage of change?
• Establish any processes or procedures that will be enhanced.
o For example: which pharmacy operations will become more efficient? How will record-keeping be streamlined?

Step 3: Determine what will be measured to show that Worksite Wellness Program goals were met.
• Consider what information is really needed to show Worksite Wellness Program effectiveness. Avoid the temptation to collect every possible piece of data. Choose a handful of important information points and stick to those.
• Think backwards when determining what information to collect – consider how easily follow-up information can be collected when a Worksite Wellness Program ends. Getting follow-up information is frequently a challenge.
• Only collect information for health behaviors or indicators that the Worksite Wellness Program actually affected.
o For example: if the main Worksite Wellness Program goal is that members will walk more steps, then it may be better NOT to choose changes in cholesterol level as a Worksite Wellness Program outcome (unless the Worksite Wellness Program specifically addresses cholesterol).
• Avoid measuring outcomes that the Worksite Wellness Program cannot (or did not) affect.

Step 4: Determine what Worksite Wellness Program elements must be included to move members towards the Worksite Wellness Program goals.
• The concrete Worksite Wellness Program outcomes identified in Step 2 are the compass for keeping the Worksite Wellness Program on track. All Worksite Wellness Program elements should lead towards that ultimate goal.

Working backwards when planning and starting Corporate Wellness Programs is really forward thinking. Keeping the bottom line up front is a smart approach to Corporate Wellness Programs.